


Love is Blind

by Cora_knight_of_breath



Category: Homestuck
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-19
Updated: 2015-07-16
Packaged: 2018-04-05 04:17:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4165491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cora_knight_of_breath/pseuds/Cora_knight_of_breath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After transferring to a new school, Eridan finds himself struggling to get by. What happens when the person he thought only hung around him after being dumped turns out to like him?</p><p>//You're all going to hate me when you learn where the title comes from.\\</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Eridan was a transfer student. He knew that his life in the predominantly human public school would be far from easy from the moment he was enrolled. Trolls faced discrimination as was, but in a school that was in a richer area and was only twenty-two percent troll, the odds were against him. He was the second highest blood caste, yet he was considered a complete waste of space at his old school. He was constantly a target of humans and trolls alike. Lowbloods would join in just because they had a chance to stand up to the caste for once. It made Eridan repulsed.

“All I’m saying is that they need to learn their place,” he grumbled to his cousin Cronus. 

Cronus was outside the house, working on his motorcycle, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He looked really nice, much to Eridan’s frustration. Eridan looked like a nerd compared to his cousin. Cronus was a good cousin, though, and had banned Eridan from wearing his cape to school. Much to Eridan’s frustration. It had helped on the first few days of school, though.

“Look, Eri, I got’cha back and all, but maybe stop worrying so much about what others do? Look at me, I do it and I’m already banging a few hot guys.”

Cronus’s response made him roll his eyes. His cousin’s blatantly homosexual lifestyle was something he could handle. It was when he insisted on fornicating with lowbloods and humans that made Eridan’s skin crawl. Why would you take on two taboos instead of just one? 

“Hey, want a ride?” Cronus asked, knocking Eridan out of his train of thought.

Eridan debated that for a moment, eyeing the outstretched helmet. His cousin may disgust him at times, but Eridan absolutely loved his motorcycle. So he took the helmet and slid it on, not caring what it did to his perfectly styled hair as he climbed on behind his cousin. 

“Let’s see kids tease you when you ride up on a motorcycle,” Cronus said as he started it up.

Eridan rolled his eyes. “Behind my cousin. It’ll still come.” 

The ride was exhilerating. Eridan wished he didn’t have to wear the helmet since the wind would have felt amazing wishing past his horns and through his hair. Part of Eridan wondered if Cronus always felt this freedom without his father looming over him. Despite being a highblood, Eridan seldom felt like he was really free. He felt like his only choice was to live up to the Alternian expectation of someone with his violet blood. Granted, he only knew of those from his father’s history books, which were brought over from Alternia while Eridan was still young, but his father believed strongly in the caste. 

Would it be nice to be able to ignore it for once?

“Hey, Earth to Eridan. We’re here.” 

Eridan reluctantly climbed off the bike. If he had it his way, he would ride all day with Cronus.

Highbloods had responsibilities though, even if Cronus chose to ignore them.

 

* * *

 

“You okay, ED? You seem kinda out of it.”

Eridan turned towards the only other individual at his table - a lowblood named Sollux. “Don’t call me ED. It’s Eridan.” 

“Sure,” Sollux said, “but are you okay? You seem kind of out of it.”

“I’m fine.” Eridan set down his fork. “I just hate human food. Especially this mac and cheese shit.”

Eridan thought he saw a ghost of a smile on Sollux. “Then hand it over. I’m starved.” He tossed a brown bag at Eridan and took the white tray of food. “You can have my lunch. It’s 100% troll approved.”

Before Eridan could even say anything, Sollux was eating. He slowly removed the contents of the bag to find fish coated in a grub sauce with a container of juice. Not the gross human kind but the type that was made in a factory owned by trolls. 

“I didn’t know you liked fish,” he pointed out. Really, Eridan probably would have liked Sollux more if he had known that.

“I don’t.”

Well, so much for liking him more.

Sollux and Eridan had started off as enemies. They absolutely hated one another, but that was mainly because Eridan’s crush liked Sollux. Then Sollux’s girlfriend nearly died because of a fire Sollux accidentally started. She dumped him and began dating Eridan’s crush. Which caused the two trolls to be pushed together at a lunch table since it was too awkward to eat with the girls.

Still, Eridan wished Sollux had chosen another lunch table. He missed being able to be alone…


	2. Chapter 2

Purple blood was running down Eridan’s nose as he sat in the boy’s bathroom trying to clean up his face. He had gotten into a fight with a human who had made fun of his horns. The human made a grab for them, Eridan tried fighting back, Eridan learned that football players punched really hard. Of course, none of the teachers had done anything.

The door opened and Eridan went stiff. What if it was another human?

“Jeez, ED, you look like crap.” 

Eridan began debating if he would have prefered a human.

“What happened?” Sollux asked as he slowly moved closer, taking a paper towel from the dispenser and wetting it. He slowly pressed it to a cut on Eridan’s temple, causing the highblood to flinch. “Sorry. But it looks like it needs to be cleaned. What happened to you?” he asked again.

“Nothing,” Eridan grumbled.

Sollux twisted the towel a bit, causing Eridan to twist in pain.

“I got in a fight,” he finally said, desperate for Sollux to stop moving the towel.

Placated, Sollux went back to gently wiping at the blood. “With who?”

“Some human football player. The one with the brown hair and blonde bimbo as a girlfriend.”

“Jeez, why did you pick a fight with him? Are you stupid?”

“Yes.”

Sollux couldn’t help but laugh a bit. It was the first time Eridan had seen the lowblood laugh and he actually looked pretty cute.

Shit, he couldn’t think that!

“Look, be more careful. You’re not exactly built and you have shit for powers,” Sollux pointed out.

“Oh, shut up,” Eridan grumbled. He hated getting lectured by Sollux.

* * *

 

As Eridan exited the school, he heard a commotion over by the back. When he walked over, he found a group of humans and trolls surrounding a football player hanging upside down from the flagpole. The football player was none other than the one who had kicked Eridan’s butt before.

“Wow, I didn’t think Sollux had the balls for something like this,” he heard a human kid with aviators say.

Eridan wondered what caused Sollux to act out and target the football player. Part of him wondered if it had to do with earlier, but why would Sollux stand up for him? He was pretty sure the lowblood hated him.

As he walked home, he kept thinking about what had happened to the football player. Maybe he had just targeted Sollux too. He just chose the wrong target, that’s all. Yeah, that seemed reasonable.

“Hey, ED, can I stay with you tonight?”

Eridan snapped out of his thoughts. Without realizing it, he had reached his home. Sollux was on the steps, a duffel bag next to him. What caused him to be staying here? Surely he could have crashed at someone else’s home, right? Like Karkat’s.

Despite that, Eridan found himself nodding. “Sure.” He unlocked the door and motioned for Sollux to head in. The lowblood didn’t hesitate to come in, looking around with interest. Eridan realized suddenly that he had never actually had Sollux over. What’s more, he had never been to Sollux’s home.

“This is a nice play. Lots of books.”

“My dad’s into Alternian history,” Eridan explained. “My room’s upstairs. I don’t have a spare recuperacoon, though. Just a bed.” In all honesty, Eridan didn’t have one at all. The slime irritated his gills.

“That’s fine.” 

Sollux smiled a bit and followed Eridan up the stairs. He seemed so interested in the place, like he had never actually seen a hive before.

“Um, my dad’s not gonna be home until late and my cousin’s out on a date with some lowblood. So we can have whatever we want for dinner.”

“I’m good with anything,” Sollux said. “I’m not really a picky eater.”

“But you don’t like fish,” Eridan pointed out. “Or honey.”

“Well I’m not one otherwise.”

Sollux sat on the bed in Eridan’s room. His face looked a little flushed as he ran his fingers over the soft comforter. “Why don’t you have a recuperacoon?”

Eridan slowly sat at the foot of the bed. “It’s irritates my gills.” He shrugged, not wanting to go into specifics. “Hey, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” Sollux said. He leaned against the head of the bed, watching Eridan cooly.

“Why do you keep packing fish for lunch when you hate it?”

“Because I know you like it. And you hate the cafeteria food despite the fact that you keep buying it. Why torture yourself like that?”

Eridan felt his cheeks heat up. “Usually Cronus doesn’t buy me any fish I can take to lunch.” He never knew Sollux was that thoughtful. He always assumed that the lowblood hated him. “And...about what happened to the football player…”

This time it was Sollux’s turn to blush. He cleared his throat and looked away. “I just told him not to mess with you anymore.”

Eridan laughed lightly, though it was strained. “I always thought you hated me. Who would’ve thought that you were so thoughtful to me. What cause the change of h-”

Before Eridan managed to finish the sentence his lips were stolen. Sollux was kissing him! He felt his heart speed up as Sollux’s lips moved against his. He hardly had a moment to react before Sollux pulled away, face flushed as he ran off. He seemed to quick to leave that he completely left his bag, racing down the stairs as Eridan tried running after him.

By time he opened the door that Sollux had slammed, he heard the screech of tires and screams of horror. Sollux had been hit.


	3. Chapter 3

Eridan was absolutely distraught. Part of him blamed himself for what had happened to Sollux. That was why, when Sollux’s family never showed up and the hospital said he had no health insurance, Eridan dipped into his emergency fund to pay for the hospital bill. He knew his father would be mad, but it wasn’t like they couldn’t afford it. They were highbloods, after all.

Every day that Eridan was free, he spent it at the hospital. After school he would do his homework besides Sollux’s sleeping form. The doctors said they kept him sedated since he had reacted violently when he woke up. He had problems accepting what had happened.

Eridan slowly took Sollux’s hand in his own each day, trying to will Sollux to just wake up and be okay. He wanted to undo the straps holding Sollux’s arms down to prevent violent fits and he wanted to apologize for what had happened. Eridan had meant to kiss him back. He was going to. Sollux just left before he could.

A soft breath escaped Sollux’s lips, causing Eridan’s heart to speed up. Was he waking up? He gave Sollux’s hand a soft squeeze, begging him to wake up calmly this time. Just so Eridan could apologize…

“Who is it?” came this lispy voice Eridan had missed more than he realized.

“Me,” he whispered. “Eridan.”

A sigh. “About what happened…”

“I’m sorry,” Eridan whispered, his voice cracking. “It’s my fault.”

The hand left Eridan's and went to move up, but it found itself stopped by the strap. “You really are stupid. I’m the one who acted.”

“But if I had done just one thing differently maybe things would be better. Maybe if I had been able to react quicker you would still be able to see.”

“Stop blaming yourself, stupid.”

“That’s easier said than done!” Eridan’s voice had risen without his realization. He stood up, unable to stop the purple tears that leaked down his cheeks. “Cod drown it, Sol...I could have prevented this if I had just kissed you back quicker.”

Sollux’s body went noticeable stiff. “Back? You weren’t going to yell?”

Eridan collapsed into the chair again. “Of course not. I’m just slow...so it took me a moment to register what I wanted to do. I’ve never kissed a guy before. Or anyone for that matter.”

Sollux began to laugh, but it was mixed in with tears. “Of course. Maybe I’m the stupid one. I was so scared of your rejection I just left.”

Eridan hesitated, wondering if he could do what he wanted without Sollux catching on. He looked out the door. No one was coming. So maybe it didn’t matter if he was caught by Sollux before he had a chance to do it. No one would see his embarrassment.

He slowly put one knee on the bed, causing Sollux to bite his lip. “What are you doing?”

Eridan stayed quiet. He moved so he was over Sollux, straddling his waist. This was the best way he could get the angle he wanted. Sollux was about to ask something, but Eridan stopped him, pressing their lips together gentle. He was absolutely horrendous at it and had too much teeth in it. Still, Sollux didn’t seem to complain as he eagerly kissed back. Eridan reached down and began to unstrap Sollux’s arms, his body melting as the lowblood wrapped his now-free arms around him. So this was what love felt like.

 

* * *

 

Sollux was noticeably calmer at the hospital, so the doctors stopped strapping him down. Eridan would visit every day and they would both talk and have fun and kiss. They made sure not to do anything more than kiss, though, since Sollux’s heart was constantly being monitored.

When Sollux finally was able to leave, Eridan brought him into his home. Even without Sollux saying anything, Eridan had caught on that his family was out of the question. Plus Karkat had spilled the beans that he hopped between friends homes and hotels. Now that he had no way to see, Eridan knew that hotels would be out of the question. Why not just make Sollux’s stay permanent?

Of course, that was easier said than done. The first night Sollux was back, Eridan realized one thing that he had overlooked: he only had one bed.

“We’ll just share, stupid,” was Sollux’s obvious response.

Eridan was a bit flustered at the idea, though. Before the accident he thought nothing of it, but now that they were technically together it seemed harder. Being that close to someone he had kissed so much and actually fantasized about doing more with…

“Fine, I’ll sleep on the floor.”

Eridan quickly shot down that idea. “No, no, it’s fine. My bed’s big enough for both of us easily.”

Alright, no it wasn’t. It was only a twin. How could he say no, though? He didn’t want Sollux on the floor, after all!


End file.
